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This White Sunday, the youth of The Gathering shared their powerful testimonies and reminded us: God doesn’t call the qualified—He qualifies the called.

1 John 3:22 (NLT) ” And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him.” There are several things in this one verse that I could concentrate on, but this is something God has been laying on me for a while now: Will God give us whatever we ask for, whatever we want? NO. Now before you quit reading or leave this page let me explain and hopefully by the end of this post, you’ll understand what I’m getting at. Even if you don’t agree it will give you something to think about, to research, and to pray about for wisdom and understanding. I have written before about how we sometimes take scripture out of context and how it helps to read what is said before and after the verse. It’s also helpful to look at the Bible as a whole because it will help us gain insight as to how the writer may have intended the verse. Let’s look at the prayers of Jesus and others. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane His prayer was heartfelt, and you can feel the emotion in His words. It makes me think of the heartfelt prayers that we offer up for a loved one who is desperately ill. We will cry out to the Lord to heal this person whom we love so dearly, but unfortunately, they aren’t always healed. Jesus knew what was about to happen, He knew His death would be painful and He would suffer. Yet in Luke 22:42-44 He prayed “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done not mine. Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened Him. He prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.” Who of us when we see someone we love, especially our own children, going through something painful, wish we were able to take on their pain and suffering and bring them peace and comfort? But the Father didn’t take “this cup” away from Jesus, why? Two key phrases which basically mean the same thing: “if you are willing” and “your will be done”. This is about the Fathers will being done, Jesus said “your will to be done, not mine”. It was not a selfish request, if Jesus had lived longer, he could have reached more people, he could have healed more, helped more and inspired more. But the Father had a plan, and it had to be carried out, it was His will. Jesus understood this. When Jesus healed the man with leprosy (Luke 5:12-13), the man said to Jesus “if you are willing”, in other words if it is your will. In those days it was understood that God was in charge, He was the creator of all, it was about what He wanted not what man wanted. In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, He said to pray “may your will be done”. It is about God’s will, not ours, and sometimes we read a verse like 1 John without acknowledging or possibly without understanding that He will give us what we ask for providing it is according to His will. You see, God owes us nothing, but we owe Him everything. He does not have to respond to our request in the way we want. We cannot demand that He fulfills our every prayer in the manner we want, and to think that He should indicates that we think we are on the same level as God! We are in no way, shape or form equal to Him. This is actually a dangerous way of thinking and is often referred to as the prosperity gospel, and those who preach it say if you speak it or pray for it you will receive it. What they leave out is the fact that it will happen if it is according to God’s will. Some believe this stems from the idea that positive thinking and speaking is all we need to get what we want, and that simply is not true. Don’t get me wrong, positive thinking and speaking can brighten your outlook. If you’ve ever been around someone who is constantly speaking negatively then you know this can be destructive. Living, thinking and speaking in a positive manner is good for us when we are living our lives in alignment with God’s word, and we acknowledge that it is about His will not ours. Prayer is powerful and when we REQUEST something in a humble manner and give him the honor and glory acknowledging it must be His will not ours, then we are submitting ourselves to Him instead of trying to become His equal. God wants to hear our heartfelt prayers, and yes, we should pray for healings and miracles but always keeping in mind that it has to be His will. His ways, His thoughts and His plans are not known to us, they are far above our own understanding, and we won’t always understand why some things happen. Remember, just as the angel appeared to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and strengthened Him, He will also strengthen us. Sometimes the answer to our prayers comes in the form of peace, comfort and strength. Continue pouring out your heart in prayer, continue making request to the Lord and continue to live your life in agreement with His word. Know that His love for us is so great that He paid the debt of our sins with His life. Until next time may God bless you and bring peace to your heart.

“Ministry is a calling, not a career choice. We must be in it for the outcome, not the income. It’s God’s Kingdom, not ours.” A friend recently shared this post on Facebook from The End Times Beacon, and it went along with something that I had been thinking about lately. Sometimes we do things or say things that appear to have a good motive but actually the motive turns out to be selfish. Whether it is related to our work, our family or even to the church, it is often a good thing to step back and think about why we are doing or saying something. Is it really to promote the interest of others or is it to promote ourselves? Let me give you an example: I’ve heard pastors of mega churches say things like “Look what I’ve built” or “Look what we’ve built” when speaking about having a large building or thousands of members. But honestly, isn’t it really what God has built? I admit I’ve always preferred small churches like the one I attend, they seem more personal, more like a family. Whereas the mega churches seem impersonal; people, names, faces get lost in the crowd, it becomes about numbers more than God’s message. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are mega churches where emphasis is placed on God’s word and not just on the number of people who attend or are members, and where the needs of the congregation are looked at and being met. It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that all should be done to the glory of God, not an individual’s glory, as stated above – it is God’s Kingdom, not ours. This is something I’ve given much thought to lately; you see a while back there was something I wanted for our church but when I sat down and truly thought about why – I saw my motives were a little more selfish than what I originally thought. It was something that would not have brought me any recognition and I would not have been able to say, “Look what I did”. But when I began examining why I wanted this and if it was something that would glorify God, the answer was clear. It was not something that would get The Word out to others, it was not something that would contribute to spiritual growth, it was not something that would make others stop and think about the love, the power or the greatness of God. So, while there wasn’t anything wrong with what I wanted, I couldn’t say that it would encourage growth in His Kingdom or even lead to personal growth among His people. And as I said, there wasn’t anything wrong with what I wanted but I realized it did not coincide with the message He’s been giving me over the past several months. God will use all of us if we let Him, but He uses us in different ways. So, I had to step back and say “God it’s in your hands. I want to go in the direction you’ve been leading me, first and foremost it needs to be about You and what you want.” With or without me God will accomplish what He has set out to do. He doesn’t need me in order to do that, but He does want me just as He wants you. God has never forced anyone to accept Him or to worship Him, He gives us freedom of choice and this is a freedom we should use wisely. If we leave things in His hands, He will use us in ways we never expected, in ways that bring honor and glory to His name. Until next time may God bless you and bring peace to your heart.

Ecclesiastes 12:11 (NLT) “The words of the wise are like cattle prods – painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep.” Cattle prods are often used when driving animals from one place to another, and while they aren’t deadly, they are painful. Words of a wise person, or God’s words can be like that for us – painful but in our best interest especially when we are traveling the wrong path. We are sinful by nature and have a tendency to try and hide our sin from others and from God. But God knows everything, He sees deep into our very souls, and we are unable to hide anything from Him. That’s why sometimes when we read His word it may feel as if it is cutting deep into our hearts. We may know that we’ve done wrong but we’re trying to avoid detection, trying to hide, to remain out of sight. God’s word should motivate us into doing what is right, not what is right in our eyes or man’s eyes, but what is right in God’s eyes. There is not only wisdom in His words but great power, power we can use to fight when facing the enemy. His word will help us to stand firm, to stay alert and to find courage in difficult times. But it can only do these things if we are willing to invest time and energy in consuming His word. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “Because I am a Christian therefore, every day in which I do not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God’s Word in Holy Scripture is a lost day for me. I can only move forward with certainty upon firm ground of the Word of God. And, as a Christian, I learn to know the Holy Scriptures in no other way than by hearing the Word preached and by prayerful meditation.” Bonhoeffer knew the importance of daily spiritual growth, so much so that a day without God’s word would be considered a day lost. We know how difficult it is when we lose a day of work and have bills to pay, but losing a day of God’s word is like losing a day of life! Think about that, if your life depended on you not just reading or hearing God’s word every day but on “penetrating more deeply into the knowledge of God’s Word” would you do it? Would you do it to add extra days to your life? Of course you would. While it may not add days to our life here on earth, it will give us a better, more peaceful and joyful life. There is great power in God’s word and when we learn to apply His words to our life it gives us the power to overcome that which would otherwise overtake us. Fighting spiritual battles is impossible without the word of God, His words are our weapons, our shield, our firm foundation that provides stable footing as we stand and fight. Jeremiah 23:29 “Does not my word burn like fire? says the Lord. Is it not a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?”